Semi-trailer chassis are widely used as tools for transporting containers. During use, a semi-trailer chassis can be hauled by a trailer vehicle, and a container can be fixed onto the semi-trailer chassis.
At the present time, the manufacture of semi-trailer chassis has been transferred to developing countries to reduce production costs; however, the main consumer markets still remain in the industrialized countries. Because various modes of transportation, e.g., via highway, railway, or by sea, are required to ship semi-trailer chassis from the location of manufacture to the marketplace, the cost of shipping is a key factor that affects the final cost of the product. Usually, high shipping costs will significantly increase the final cost of the product and therefore cause a loss in market competitiveness.
Conventionally, semi-trailer chassis are shipped by sea using bulk cargo ships, where five units of semi-trailer chassis are secured and stacked on top of one another for shipping. By using this method, the shipping process can be complicated and the shipping costs are high. Also, because there is a shortage of bulk cargo shipping lines, it is difficult to schedule and satisfy the demand for shipping semi-trailer chassis using only bulk cargo shipping lines instead of container lines. As a result, this directly affects the production costs of semi-trailer chassis. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt an efficient and low-cost shipping method.
Containers are standard international, general-purpose shipping tools used in various modes of transportation. Containers can be stacked to maximize the storage capacity, e.g., on the deck of a ship, so that the shipping costs can be reduced and shipping efficiency can be enhanced.
By using containers to ship semi-trailer chassis, provided that the size of the container after loading meets the length, width, and height requirements for standard container shipping, it is possible to use various modes of transportation, containerize the transportation of semi-trailer chassis, and reduce shipping costs. However, due to the special structure of semi-trailer chassis, the design of the container and the loading method will directly determine whether it is possible to ship the semi-trailer chassis. The design of the container and the loading method will also determine the overall size of the container after the semi-trailer chassis have been loaded, and the maximum quantity of semi-trailer chassis that can be shipped by a container.